Our Fight
by Ihatechoosinganame
Summary: While Buffy is in LA, the rest of the Scoobies get attacked by a demon while leaving the Bronze. Angry and drawing on his experience as a soldier, Xander decides its time that others get brought into the fight. This was their town and their fight. Even without the Slayer they would do everything they could to protect Sunnydale, and get a bit of revenge on their attackers
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If you recognize it than I do not own it.

The demon came out of nowhere. They were just getting on with their day, knowing it would be a long night. Then suddenly for the most part, they were waking up in the hospital.

Xander sat up in his bed seeing a very bruised and bloody Oz waiting for him. "Ouch," Xander said, "Please say I don't look as bad as you do."

Oz glanced over at him surprised to see him awake. "Worse," Oz stated in a slightly shaken voice, showing more worry and emotion than Xander remembered seeing.

Xander paled remembering seeing Cordelia go flying. "Cordelia, is she..."

He couldn't bring himself to finish the question, but Oz understood what he was asking. "They won't let me in to see her," he admitted. "She's critical.'

Xander pulled out his IV trying to remember what happened but it only came in flashes. "What happened?"

"Demon Came. Demon was hunting. Demon won. Almost won. You got some good hits in. It ran when a crowd left the bronze," Oz said keeping as blunt as possible.

"Willow? I remember her getting hurt but...god I remember Cordelia," Xander cringed, he remembered Cordelia being torn into.

"It was badness." Oz offered.

"I just, I just can't see how everything went so bad so quickly," Xander admitted. "How's Willow?"

Oz nodded understanding. "She's been released. Temporarily. She's home. I promised to stay here."

Xander began to pull himself back together, it wasn't time for him to lose it now. "break into ICU?"

"Course."

It was far too easy to break into the room. Cordelia was laying on a bed that seemed to consume her. Xander felt sick seeing her hooked into dozens of machines, just keeping her alive. After looking at her in absolute horror. He got angry. 'ohhh even better, the slayers little tag along. How does it feel to be abandoned by your slayer. She left the town to the demons. It will be fun taking out Sunnydale's last line of defense, nothing stopping us now. Bout time the humans around here realize that Sunnydale belongs to demons," he hissed mockingly remembering the word.

"Xander," Oz said seeing a darkness in the teens eye that was normally very well hidden.

"Yeah our slayer fucking abandoned the hellmouth and now it is a free for all," Xander returned. "We are a couple teenagers minus the super powers minus the weapons and minus the help from the watcher. Willow, she's going to get herself killed by getting in too deep with magic. Cordie...god cordie," he said looking down at his girlfriend. "There is four of us against an army. We are all going to did and she just left us to it cause it didn't work out with her boyfriend. I staked my brother and still kept fighting. She...god cordelia," He said again horrified.

He went over to the bedside and gave Cordelias cheek a kiss. Then he stomped out. Oz followed him worried about just how angry Xander was. He always was so good natured it was surprising to see. It worried the slightly older teen that he'd do something he would regret…if he survived long enough to regret it. "Your going to do something stupid."

"Yep," Xander said angrily walking out of the hospital. "Now are you joining me or not?"

Oz followed him. "You have to be hurting." He did after all wake up after six hours of being unconscious.

"Maybe," Xander said but it didn't stop him.

"Xander..."

Xander looked at him, "a month, she's been gone a month. We can't keep up with it. People are coming back. The death rates are twice as high as they were before Buffy came to Sunnydale. They are coming back fast. Energy from Acathla or some shit but they are coming and guess what Oz, they will win."

From the hunting they had done, that was clear. They were fighting a losing battle. "Your moving on anger. It leads to badness," Oz said hoping he'd at least think about what was happening before doing something he regretted.

"I'm tired of them hunting us," Xander said as they reached the school and he did not hesitate to break in, grabbing the best of his weaponry. "I'm hunting them."

"And the two of us will die."

"Who said it is the two of us," Xander returned looking up at him for the first time. "They got an army, I'm going to build one."

Oz looked at him surprised, what he was suggesting seemed absolutely impossible. "What?"

"They are my pack," Xander growled. "this is our home. Our territory Oz. They don't get to take it from us. They don't get to keep killing our friends while the rest of the world can just move on."

'Ever think about leaving."

"Our home, our people and they can't or won't protect themselves so we are going to have to do it for them because it is our fight. That's something buffy never understood or she wouldn't have left. I'm done playing games."

Oz looked at him seeing that he truly was intending to do this and just from his stance, Oz was beginning to think he'd succeed. He knew there was more to Xander Harris then what met the eye. His wolf was warning him that the other teen was powerful. He never understood it before. "How do you plan on building an army?"

"we already have one, we just have to pull it together."

"And you lost me," Oz said.

Xander just went to a pay phone and dialed a number speaking softly into the phone before moving on. Oz following behind him until they reached a house down the street from Xanders. Oz was shocked though he did not show it, seeing Tor Hauer was not what he was expecting.

"Come in," Tor said with a nod as they entered.

Xander was pulled into hug and he put his face in her throat, a second later she pulled away, not something Oz expected.

"Oz, I'm assuming you know Tor, Kyle, Heidi and Rhonda."

"Yes."

The four mean kids however were impatient and wanted answers, screw the introductions. Especially as Xander looked like he had been in a fight with the entire football team. "Oy, what you call us together for," Tor asked.

Xander hoped he was making a good choice. He was angry. He wanted revenge. He was tired of losing and this was the only chance he had. So he was going to give them what they wanted and he would let them decide what to do with it. "You wanted the truth, the absolute truth about Sunnydale. Buffy wouldn't let me tell it. Still want it?"

"Course."

Xander looked at them seriously, "Vampires, werewolves, witches and warlocks, demons, all of your worst nightmares exist," Xander said clearly.

There was a slight inhale of breath, but oz was confused that the four didn't seem overly surprised at the statement, as if they were almost expecting it. "And what happened to us," Heidi asked. "What made us eat someone, you told us it was a ritual and it struck us, that it wasn't our fault yada yada...but you never fully explained."

"A warlock...or a mage. I don't really know the difference. He wanted to take in the spirit primals of hyenas, we got in its way. The hyena spirit primal possessed us."

It sounded insane but also unbelievably accurate, they knew despite wishing differently that he was telling the truth. "And, you and your little gang fight this stuff," Kyle asked, "since sadly, that actually makes sense. The barbeque forks to the neck do not. Anything weird happening, your always around stopping it so you fight these things."

Xander nodded since lying would do none of them any good. "Yes."

The four shared looks and didn't hesitate to make the next statement. "We want in," Tor said shocking oz. "We wanted in before, but we want in."

"In...well, being in got Cordelia in ICU on life support and they don't know if she will wake up. Being in... fighting these things, it's going to put us in an early grave, maybe tonight, maybe next week but we will end up dying hideous painful deaths, maybe if we are lucky they will find our bodies and maybe, just maybe there might be a tiny chance we won't be so torn apart that we will be able to have an open casket. Probably unlikely," Xander wasn't sugar coating it. He knew the reality of what they did, he also knew that when he came here and told them the truth, they would want to be involved. Its why he chose them first.

Tor laughed, "This is Sunnydale Harris, we are going to die, die young, maybe tonight, maybe next week. It will probably be a hideously painful death. Maybe there will be a body but even if there is, how much of it is recognizable is debatable. This is Sunnydale. Speeding up our demise or not, we want in." Oz was confused, it couldn't possibly be that easy to get people involved.

Xander grinned, that was the answer he was hoping for. It wasn't a nice clean job but it was one he believed in, even if Buffy was under the assumption that only slayers slayed, this was their home. They all deserved to be given the opportunity to fight for it. "You don't know how much I wanted to hear that," Xander admitted.

"Oh really," Rhonda said surprised, she didn't understand why he was suddenly informing them of all this. "You seemed to shove it away before. Shove us away. Our alpha."

Xander gave them a sad look, "It was never my call," Xander returned. "If I even hinted at the idea of bringing others in I got shot down. Supernatural supposed to be a secret and all. Besides, not one of you tried to hang with me."

"Your blond friend shoved us away every time we tried," Tor admitted. "Which is why I was shocked to get the call. What changed?"

"It's our fight," Xander returned. "our town. Our friends. Right now, I'm on a bit of a revenge kick. A demon was hunting around the bronze. Would have killed us anyways. Cordelia's in a coma because of it. We got beat to hell."

This idea made them uneasy, they wanted to be involved but wanted all the facts. "So you want us to fight your battles," Kyle challenged.

"She left the town to the demons. It will be fun taking out Sunnydale's last line of defense, nothing stopping us now. Bout time the humans around here realize that Sunnydale belongs to demons," Xander said remembering the words. "Sunnydale belongs to us. We can't defend it. Not just us. Buffy..."

"Buffy aint human," Rhonda stated. There was something extremely unnatural about that girl.

"She had skills we didn't, and yes she was human," Xander added. "Just special. Now the demons are coming out, taking risks, killing more. They are coming in packs, almost an army worth and we don't have one to fight back. I decided to stop caring about how it was drilled into my head to not bring in others. Its time Sunnydale fights back."

"You don't have to tell us," Heidi returned with a dark grin, "We would have helped you fight your own battles. God Xander. You saved me from making the biggest mistake of my life."

There was a slight flinch from the four mean kids and Oz wondered what Xander had stoppedd her from doing. "Don't make this about that," Xander stated. "I don't want you doing this because you think you owe me because you don't."

"You stood on a bridge, the side of a bridge and talked me down from killing myself," Heidi stated causing Oz to glance at Xander shocked, he had never heard about this before. "I was up there because a monster got in my head, made me kill someone, eat someone and I enjoyed it. That monster, a part of it was still inside. You helped me control it. You helped all of us even though we put you through hell in school. Helped us live with what we did. Helped us know we could still control that part of us that remembered liking it. You made us realize it wasn't us. Fighting...isn't that all we have left?"

"I was considering going army," Tor admitted. "I'd sign onto yours in a heartbeat. I know some martial arts," Tor could only think of one very important question, weird and unusual look to the group of them so he figured Xander would have some answers. "What happened last Halloween."

Xander grinned, "What did you dress as?"

"We dressed as the two knights of the round table...that really happened didn't it."

"remember how to use a sword," Xander asked grinning.

They nodded grinning, "Rhonda and I dressed as Archers," Heidi stated, "I still got my bow."

"Xan you remember, the muscle memory is imprinted," Xander stated. "If you work at it, pull it out. I can still hit a target nearly any distance with a gun. I dressed as a soldier. Still have the knowledge too."

"We remember things, a lot of things," Heidi offered.

"Good, swords are great, bows better. Vampires are 3 times faster, 4 times stronger than a person," Xander stated. "Demons most of them even worse."

Tor nodded. "Yeah but it's a fight that needs to be fought. We are up for it."

"Good," Xander said pleased though also worried. "I am probably going to get us all killed but enough is enough. They wanted a fight and we are going to give them one."

"Not much of an army just us six...seven if you include the redhead. You said Queen bitch is out and where's Blondie?"

Buffys leaving still hurt, they had fought for her, fought by her side and she abandoned them when it got difficult. Sure, her life sucked, but they couldn't just up and leave, this was their home and Xander realized, that Sunnydale did not matter to Buffy. She only fought because she had no choice. "No idea," Xander replied. "Not sure if I would forgive her if she decided to show up. Besides, if tonight goes as I expect it too, I should be adding a bit more firepower."

"Alright alpha, build us a pack worth fighting with," Kyle agreed. "who are you thinking?"

"Amy Maddison," Xander said.

They looked surprised at that. "Hmmm, she smells off slightly, power..." Kyle offered.

"She's a witch," Xander returned. "Potentially a few others. Have any suggestions?"

"Larry Blaisedale," Heidi stated. "He'd fight with and for you any day. Hell, he warned his team against bullying you. Lost his best friend five months ago. Barbeque fork incident."

"That geek that O'toole makes do his homework, a geek has there uses even if he can't fight worth shit," Tor stated. "Johnathan or something like that."

"Oh, and just about 50% of the students at Sunnydale will step in if asked," Rhonda added. "Because all of us are either burying our heads or trying to understand the impossible to understand."

"Most of our kindergarten class is dead," Heidi stated, People we started school with...god there's what, of the original Sunnydale elementary school classes 20 people left?"

"Not even," Xander returned. "Willow, cordy, you, me, Aura, Johnathan, Amy, Tor, O'toole, Larry, Michael, from our kindergarten class. Kyle moved here first grade, Rhonda what third or fourth?"

The reminder of so many dead classmates long since forgotten turned their stomachs. "God that's sickening to think about."

"I think we lost about ten in our class before we reached high school. That's of the originals, we lost so many others as well, we'd gain a kid here and there and most of them would die. that's a big chunk. We lost ten more in high school. Not counting the other classes or the people who popped into the school along the way."

"Maybe you should start your recruitment speech with that," Kyle suggested. "Would have had me in without a second thought and I'm not born here. God, I never put the deaths together like that before."

"Sunnydale syndrome," Xander returned, "it's like the towns spelled to forget the dead."

"And you remember," Rhonda pointed out. If they had not eaten the principle, they likely would never have bothered with the nightlife but Xander, he knew.

"I can't forget," Xander admitted, "Some days I wish I could, but you get to a point where you can't forget it anymore and everything you repressed just comes back stronger and more difficult to ignore. I think you all are past that point as well."

Heidi laughed, "After you memorize the taste of human flesh, you can't ignore it anymore. Is that Sunnydale syndrome a real thing because I always just figured my parents didn't give a shit about us after they seemed to forget my brother dying. Never questioning the whole 'accident' thing. I thought I was insane."

Xander cringed, he knew over the years, when he saw things he shouldn't have, or weird things happened, he felt insane because monsters didn't exist. He had known for years and let them think they were crazy, he felt horrible at that. The truth sucked but it was better than pretending everything was okay and knowing it wasn't. "Sorry I never told you the truth before this."

"No you were too much under blondies thumb," Rhonda said. "That we've noticed. We want in. We don't want to be coddled or treated like babies. I got a younger sister. She asked me to take her to the zoo a few months ago. I freaked, like freaked freaked. I don't want her to grow up like that. I'll fight so she never has to. So she can go to the damn zoo without worrying about turning into a psycho hyena person and eating people."

Xander grinned, it was a darker grin then his usual easy going one. He was done playing games, being the comic relief. He was going to have to step up and finish this, "welcome to war boys and girls, We will give you a very brief welcome after we go gather the rest of our army."

"Coming with," Kyle said nodding to the others. "they'll stay back? Deal?"

Xander gave a sharp nod as they went to where Amy was staying with her dad and he let them in, Amy just grinned giving Xander a hug before looking confused at the other two. "Hey Xand, what's up?"

"You mentioned learning magic, so you could fight back," Xander stated. "So, you would be able to stand a chance against what you know is out there."

"Yes," Amy said still looking warily at the other guests. "But I got off track till you pulled me back. Why what's the point of this?"

"Would you like to join the fight with us, I can guarantee dying young and painful," Xander said.

Kyle rolled his eyes as Oz shook his head, that was no way to gain any help. "You need to work on your speeches," Kyle pointed out. "Dyeing young and painful, it's not really going to draw people in."

Amy laughed, "no but honesty is important. dying young and in pain, I thought that was almost a guarantee in Sunnydale Xander. Besides, Buffy is not overly fond of inviting other people in. Her and Mr. Giles were not very welcoming."

Xander knew that, they had barely wanted him and Willow involved. Still, he wasn't in the position to throw away any potential help. He stopped caring what Buffy and Giles wanted when they abandoned the hell mouth. When he watched as a demon tore apart his girlfriend and nearly killed his best friend. There choices didn't matter when they weren't there.

"They aren't involved. Sunnydale's practically fallen into hell because Buffy took a sabbatical. Cordelia is in a hospital bed on life support because we were just walking home from the bronze. I'm going for revenge and making this town ours again. I'm tired of losing people. So, I'm gathering up an army of people and taking it back by force and showing the demons who really owns this town."

She couldn't help but grin. This was the Xander who used to protect her from bullies, not the tag along he had grown into. "You know I'm in and I think Jonathan, Michael and Nancy might be interested. Nancy is a practicing witch and so's Michael. Jonathan lost one of his cousins last week. We aren't really friends but he does do some basic witchcraft and is probably up to the fight. He's got a good chunk of Mr. Giles books memorized. He'd be a huge help and Nancy knows a lot about magic and the not so evil demonic places. She's a second-generation witch and learnt everything from her mother before a demon got her when Nancy was 13. We aren't close friends or anything but if we brought it up they would all maybe be interested."

Xander nodded, if they were interested and knew what they were getting into, they were welcome. They needed all the help they could get. "Give some hints to them, tomorrow at noon."

"Yes sir," she said before grinning. "So, who are you off to induct now?"

"Larry," Xander returned.

She should have known that was a possibility seeing as he already had the leader of the mean kids backing him. Of course, he'd go for the jock who used to shove his head in a toilet. "Xan, its questionable that you are making an army of people who made elementary and middle school hell," she admitted. "Cordelia, Kyle Du Four...no offence meant. Larry Blaisedale."

"You forgot Tor, Heidi and Rhonda," he said lightly. "I'm not planning no inviting O'toole and everyone else is dead Ames, I mean, everyone keeps dying to the point where is holding a grudge necessary? Where does it end? We all bleed the same and our bloods what feeds this damn town. It feeds the darkness and if we don't step up its going to consume everything."

They couldn't help but cringe, Xander was usually so cheerful and easy going, that was dark coming from him. Worse, it was accurate. "Wow your cheerful," Kyle stated.

"I got nothing left to lose," Xander returned. "I'm in it till the end. So, let's go recruit a footballer."

"I'll ask around the circles," Amy offered intending to back him. She didn't really understand why he was forgiving people so easily but just figured that it was Xander.

"Discreetly, we don't want on their radar too soon," Xander advised, he didn't want the demons getting ideas about them and killing them off before they got a chance to take a few of them with them.

She nodded understanding what he meant, "Witches know discreet," she said lightly as they continued on their way to the next house.

Larrys father answered the door letting them downstairs where Larry was playing video games he stood up instantly uneasy. It was an odd group to enter his basement. "So is the world ending, because it has to be to have you three here."

"Maybe," Xander said honestly. He was tired, he hurt and so he decided to be blunt. He wanted this done. It had already been going better than he was expecting. "Do you believe in monsters?"

Larrys eyes widened, "what sort are we talking about here?"

"Non-human variety."

Larry was silent for a few minutes and they just let him think through what was said. Finally, he took a seat once again. "I'm open to hearing about it."

"Everything from your deepest darkest nightmares exist," Xander said bluntly. "And Sunnydale is the center of it all. All those mysterious and easy forgotten deaths, accidents that are clearly not accidents, everything is real. Some of us know. Some of us fight. Let's just say the only one keeping the monster population manageable decided to go off because she couldn't handle it. Some demons pissed me off. I'm building an army. You in?"

It was blunt, direct and Larry couldn't help but believe them. It shouldn't have been that easy but with all that Larry knew about what went on in Sunnydale, the people he had lost 'mysteriously and unexplained' he wasn't going to lose the opportunity to fight back. Xander knew that. He knew some of the deaths had hit the other teen hard so Larrys answer was no surprise to him. After all, Xander was extremely good at reading people. "I'm in," Larry said.

Xander grinned as Oz looked surprised. "You might want to work on your sword skills, you were pretty good weren't you, for a pirate."

His eyes widened, "that really happened," Larry said shocked as Xander nodded. "Shit I think I nearly raped your blond friend. That freaky strong one."

Xander understood how such an action under someone else's control could eat you up inside, he had almost done the same as a hyena primal. "That wasn't you, not really," He said wanting to assure him of that fact and that there was no hard feelings.

Xander glanced to Oz who was shocked at how quickly Xander managed to pull together an army, "so I got us an army."

"Scary fast," the werewolf admitted. "Devon may be interested. He knows the weird."

"I got a player on the team, carry's around holy water," Larry stated realizing they were gathering people, more the better if they were coming to him. "He is big on the whole, Sunnydale is evil thing. Could use the truth. Hess big, tough and a good fighter. Names Mitch. He had a twin sister who went missing a year ago."

"Tomorrow at noon, in the school," Xander stated, this had gone so much better than he had hoped in his anger. He had not really thought things through, he just acted. He was too angry at what happened to care about the consequences. "Bring him in if you trust him, if he betrays us, minimum I do know there are spells to make you forget cause what we are doing...we probably won't survive high school."

"I didn't think our odds were too good anyways," Larry stated. "You mentioned revenge."

"Cordelia's in intensive care."

Larry's eyes narrowed, he didn't like the idea of the cheerleader getting hurt. She could be a bitch, but she was good to him most of the time. "So we are going to hunt the bastards? Cordelia got the cordettes to back off when I came out," Larry said. "Whatever hurt her pays for it."

"Damn straight," Xander agreed.

There was no turning back now. He had gathered the army, now he just had to get them ready and fight. He was drawing on all his experience as a soldier to get things done. Hopefully, he wouldn't get them all killed.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If you recognize it than I do not own it.

HHH

When Oz and Xander had asked her to meet them, she wasn't expecting to break into the school and then the library. "What's going on," Willow asked confused.

"Just wait," Oz said wondering if he should have given her a brief summary but perhaps not. They were big with the secrets...most of the time. She'd not react well to what they were about to do. Still, he was with Xander, it was needed.

Xander went outside and to her surprise, returned with a large group of people. Willow looked at them wide eyed, eeping slightly when she realized who was present. "Go on then Harris, you're the boss, boss," Heidi said giving him a grin as a lot of people talked nervously, having a slight idea of what they were there for but it was still overwhelming to think about.

"Hopefully your speech making skills have improved, try not to start off with dying horribly," Kyle stated loud enough for everyone to quiet down. "Might be a good thought."

Xander took a breath and stepped in front of everyone. "Jesse McNally. Theresa Monten. Hugo Brief. Mathew Berrie. Nathan Brently, Richard Michaels, Sheila, Marcie, April, Corey, Morgan, Sabastien..."

Each name felt like a punch to those who recognized them. Xander had been thinking once he calmed down about what he was going to say but all he could do was say the truth. "I can keep going. I can name over 30 names off by heart, another twenty or so with barely a second thought. I'm sure you all can name the ones I miss. These are just students. I can go through teachers. Principle Flutie, Ms Jenny Calendar, Mr. Terrence, Miss Maples. Kyles right. That's all I need for a speech. I'm not here to talk. Most of you know why we are here. For those who got the brief intro or got pulled in by others, If you can't bring yourself to believe in monsters, if you don't want to die young, I'd advise leaving Sunnydale. If you're here, we are here to fight because we are slowly being destroyed by Sunnydale. There are more monsters then people by the rate we are going. Anyone here not here for the right reasons?"

Willow looked horrified. Giles and Buffy had been clear about keeping the supernatural a secret. They would both be so angry. "Xander you're not supposed to tell people" Willow said shocked.

'Why it's there funerals," Xander challenged, he never agreed with Giles and Buffy about keeping it a secret. People had a right to know, at least then they stood a fighting chance. "Maybe I am not fighting for the right reasons, all I know is we went to the bronze for a breather and my girlfriends on life support. We have the armies of hell on our doorsteps. Everyone is here by their own free will, most of them already knew or at least had a good idea, now they know. I'm being honest, we will be lucky to survive the summer. Anyone who wants to leave, feel free."

Kyle decided to interrupt then. No one in the room were interested in leaving. "Yeah right, can't tell us we can actually learn to protect ourselves, to fight back, give us a chance then run off," Kyle challenged. 'No, I think I speak for everyone here when I say we are in."

Xander grinned as the others echoed their agreement. "Demonology 101 ladies and gents. We are literally standing on the mouth of hell."

"As in Sunnydale, I heard rumors that it was called la boca del inferno but really," Nancy said shocked. They had been rumors but she had never believed them.

"Sunnydale yes but I am talking about this library," Xander corrected. "Here below us is the gateway to hell."

Everyone looked slightly sick at the idea of their school being built on this thing even if they didn't truly understand what it meant. "Schools hell just took on another meaning," Larry stated. "libraries being evil more so."

Mitch thumped him roughly, "I told you," he said smuggley. "But noooo... I'm weird."

"You are weird," Larry returned snorting slightly, he had thought the other boy was insane, now he was just weird. "Okay... so is someone trying to kill us. Building a school there."

Xander was silent for a moment, he had never stopped to really consider that, it could be a coincidence, but he couldn't bring himself to accept it was just bad luck, "Possibly, could be chance but I've stopped believing in coincidences. I feel like a convenient snack to be honest."

"So, we've talked, how do we kill these things," Tor said getting to the point everyone present wanted to know.

"Most common is vampires," Xander said pulling out a stake, "Wood to the heart. Xander went to Larry, "Best place to shove it is right about here," he said touching his chest.

"You can touch me like that any time handsome, but I think your girlfriends going to get jealous," Larry said teasingly.

Xander smacked him blushing slightly as everyone else snickered, "I can't use a girl, too close to..welll...

"boobs, you can date Cordelia Chase and you can't say boobs, tits, breasts, tatas," Heidi mocked.

"Those," Xander returned. "Oz do you mind me feeling you up then?"

"Only if you buy me dinner," he returned causing everyone to laugh but before he could Kyle went up.

Saying nothing on it Xander continued indicating the best place in their backs. "You hit bone your screwed," Xander said bluntly. "Shoving a stake through somethings heart takes a lot of strength. Beheading is another option."

"I don't know a spell for that," Amy admitted, "I don't think I should either, that sounds darkish."

Xander grabbed a sword and tossed it, Tor caught it effortlessly and spun it as if he had always used swords. The action completely instinctual. Everyone else was gaping. "You...sword, sharp," Willow said as everyone looked shocked.

"Sword dull," Xander corrected since even he wasn't insane enough to toss a sharp sword at someone even if he had a good idea of what would happen, "practice sword. But proved a point. Happy Halloween Tor."

"I...oh so I do remember," Mitch said surprised.

Xander took out a gun shocking everyone and tore it apart and put it together in seconds. "More you work at it, quicker our Halloween memories will return."

This was going a bit far for some of them who wanted to understand what he meant by Halloween. They had thought it was a bad dream. "Wait go back," Devon requested, "So I wasn't high? I mean I was but...that shit happened."

"What did you dress as?"

"Samurai."

Xander glanced around before full out laughing, it was almost unbelievable, he couldn't believe their luck. Their was no way that was luck. Maybe, just maybe something on the hellmouth was going right for them. "Great he lost it," Rhonda muttered.

"Remind me when the chaos mage pops back in to thank him," Xander said pleased.

"why," Willow demanded, "He is evil."

"Knights, archers, hunters, soldiers, samurais," Xander listed, "the little kids were mostly monsters sure, I think it kept them alive that night. Teenagers, nearly everyone was some sort of fighter. Be that Pirates or anything. I'm going to thank him for giving our army the knowledge to maybe live out the summer."

"I was a white witch," Nancy stated finally understanding what happened. "I'm fluent in Latin which is most used for spells. Wasn't before."

"So we spend the next few days training up, then we go hunting for those fuckers that got Queen C," Larry decided.

Xander gave him a grin appreciating that someone else cared about his girlfriend being attacked besides him. "I withhold objections not for Chase but Xanders sake," Amy said. "I feel icky getting revenge on her behalf."

"I'm sitting beside the same guy who shoved my head in a toilet three times," Michael pointed out getting a cringe from Larry. "You can deal."

"Yeah, just universal sorry to everyone in the room that I picked on," Larry stated.

"Universal acceptance," Xander said as the others nodded. Xander began handing out weapons. Getting them to work at it.

"Giles is going to be so mad," Willow stated worriedly as they worked away, planning, learning the best ways to kill things, stuff Xander had only learned through trial and error. Making stakes, prepping holy water.

Xander glanced to her, "then he shouldn't have abandoned us," Xander said bluntly having no time for his best friends unlimited faith in authority. "Willow, we all almost died. I watched you and Cordelia," He couldn't bring himself to repeat what he saw. "When I leave here I am going to wait by her bedside if they even let me because they've made it clear it will be a miracle if she wakes up. He and Buffy should be here."

Willow still wasn't convinced. "She's having trouble dealing and she is his responsibility."

"HE SHOULD HAVE TRAINED US," Xander shouted causing everyone to jump looking over surprised especially Willow. Xander was too angry to care. "We were his responsibility as well. He let us in, but he kept focusing on her. She's gone. She had trouble dealing...yeah well, she had responsibilities to here. They made Sunnydale a bigger target by being here. Maybe the whole mystical convergence always was a target but now they are coming, mocking us because we no longer have a slayer and a bunch of useless school children are this town's only line of defense. We are far from useless and we are going to show all those smug bastards who think they can take over that this is our town. If you are going to defend them both don't do it to my face. Maybe try Cordelia...oh wait you can't."

'Your acting mean."

"I'm making a choice," Xander said feeling no regrets despite Willows hurt look, she needed a reality check. "This is my town and I am going to defend it and my girls to my dying breath. Maybe that means I have to grow up because guess what Willow, they aren't here. You've been defending them for months but Buffy should have dealt with Angel a long time ago."

"She loved him."

"And I love Cordelia," Xander said causing her to gape. "I am doing the only thing that I can for the people I love. Giles wants to be mad he can. I don't care. There are people dying and I can't just stand back and let it happen. I can't run off and ignore it because every day its someone else we know who dies. I'm not strong enough on my own. I'm not my own one-person army. I can't beat them in a fair fight and they sure as hell don't fight fair. It's about time we don't either. We all have lost people. It's time to fight back."

His speech was interrupted by a hollered, "Hell yeah," Mitch agreed. "Damn fucking straight."

"Now that's a fucking recruitment speech," Kyle said impressed. "Much better than you're going to likely die painfully but want to fight anyways."

"Kinda hot, too bad queen bitchy got her claws in you first," Heidi said impressed.

The others grinned, "so this sounds like fun," Tor said. "Let's twist some odds and move our asses."

Willow could say nothing to his statement, a part of her disagreed but at the same time, looking at Oz and back to Xander, seeing them so ready to fight she couldn't. "Alright, I know where Giles keeps the maps and I've been working on a computer algorithm to try to track when vampires are going to rise," She stated. "It's not perfect yet. I'm still working out the details but..."

"I can help," Jonathan stated glad to find something he could do successfully. "I'm not much of a fighter but I do know computers and I'm getting better with spell work."

"We don't have slayer strength, we don't play by watcher council rules. We fight by whatever means we have. We don't play fair. If a gun with silver bullets will do the same as a sword, we play it smart. A rocket launcher killed the judge, we modernize if we have to," Xander said. "We start small, we can't just take the things that attacked us. We have to track them first, but we can start with the normal hunts. Vampires rising, newborns will be the safest for practice, where we know we will outnumber them until we get to be better with a fight. Willow, Jonathan while you're doing your thing we are going to be training. I'd also suggest all the magic users train together. Will you've been mostly on your own since Ms Calendar, it's not exactly a safe thing to learn on your own."

"I've been practicing my entire life," Nancy offered. "I'm sure we all have practiced different fields. Building a coven would both increase our power and our control. Witches who practice together are known to be far more powerful but don't get lost in magic as many lone practitioners do."

Xander grinned, "we are a team. We work together. We all got different skills. Strengths. Weaknesses. Together we are stronger. Together, we might just have a chance."


End file.
